Spring is rapidly approaching, and thoughts of a traditional food source spring to mind. Pre-contact native peoples, living in the northeastern part of North America, were the first people known to have produced maple syrup and maple sugar. According to oral traditions, as well as archaeological evidence, maple tree sap was being processed for its sugar content long before Europeans arrived in the region.
The Mi’kmaq recognized the sap as a source of energy and nutrition. At the beginning of the spring thaw, they used stone tools to make V-shaped incisions in the trees, then inserted reeds or concave pieces of bark to run the sap into buckets, which were often made from birch bark. The maple sap, already rich in sugar content and sweet-tasting, was concentrated either by dropping hot cooking stones into the buckets, or by leaving them exposed to the cold temperatures overnight, and disposing of the layer of ice which formed on top.
Modern production is concentrated in February, March, and April, depending on local weather conditions. Freezing nights and warm days are needed to induce sap flows. The change in temperature from above to below freezing causes water uptake from the soil, and temperatures above freezing cause a stem pressure to develop, which, along with gravity, causes sap to flow out of tapholes or other wounds in the stem or branches. To collect the sap, holes are bored into the maple trees and tubes (taps or spouts) are inserted. Sap flows through the spouts into buckets or into plastic tubing. Modern use of plastic tubing with a partial vacuum has enabled increased production. Maple sap is collected from the buckets and taken to the sugar house; if plastic tubing and pipelines are used, then the pipelines are arranged so that the sap will flow by gravity into the sugar house, or if that is not possible, into holding tanks from which the sap is pumped or transported by tanker truck to the sugar house.
It takes approximately 40 litres (10 gal) of sap to be boiled down to 1 litre (1 quart) of syrup. A mature sugar maple produces about 40 litres of sap during the 4- to 6-week sugaring season. Trees are not tapped until they have a diameter of 25 cm (10 in) at chest-height and the tree is at least 40 years old. If the tree is more than 45 centimetres (18 in) it can be tapped twice on opposite sides.
If you are interested in participating in this centuries old tradition, contact Randy Angus at MCPEI at 315-0101 for more information.